Page 64 of Nothing Compares to the Duke
“I should go.” She gave the girl’s hands an encouraging squeeze. “If there’s anything you need help with, hold the modiste off a bit and I’ll be back before you know it.”
As Bella exited the shop, she considered whether totake a hansom or an omnibus, debating which would be quicker. Looking over her shoulder, she scanned for empty cabs looking to take on passengers.
“Bella?”
Rhys approached along the row of shops.
Damn it. An explanation would delay her and the chances of making her appointment on time were fading minute by minute. “I thought you weren’t returning for an hour.”
He looked wounded at her tone. “I came back. For you. I’m headed to my club and wondered if you’d care to see it.”
“I thought ladies weren’t allowed.” Shewascurious about what went on at gentlemen’s clubs. Just not at this precise moment.
He grinned. “I’m a co-owner and prepared to smuggle you inside.”
Bella glanced back to the cab stand.
“Where were you off to?” He stared down at the bulky case in her arms. “Did you leave Meg on her own?”
“I’ll only be gone a short while.” Bella raised her arm but the empty passing hansom didn’t stop. “I’m sorry but I’m late.”
His frown went from confused to irritated. “Where exactly are you going?”
Bella ignored his question and stepped toward the curb. Another cab was coming their way and she hoped to catch it.
Rhys approached, bristling with palpable frustration. “Shouldn’t you tell me? I am your fiancé, after all?”
Any other time they’d spoken of the ruse, there had been an almost playful tone in his voice. There was none of that now. His question felt like a demand.
“You’renotactually my fiancé and this is something I must do.” After a sigh of frustration, she lifted her bag. “My puzzles and cryptograms. I’ve arranged them into a manuscript. I’m meeting with a publisher and now I’m going to be late.”
“No.” After that single emphatic syllable, he turned and headed to the pavement’s edge, then stepped onto the cobblestones. He raised a hand and whistled for the next cab passing by. The driver responded immediately, drawing up the reins so that the horse stopped in front of them. “You’re not going to be late, Bella. I won’t let you be.”
Even now, she hesitated. The trust he so desperately wanted from her wouldn’t be easy to regain.
Finally, she sprinted forward, placed her hand in his, and let him help her into the cab. When he settled beside her, she called up an address near Green Park, and the driver immediately urged the horse on its way.
“Thank you,” she said without glancing at him.
The quarters were close. Thigh to thigh. Arm to arm. The nearness was tempting. Unnerving. He loved it. She didn’t seem as pleased.
She vibrated with anxious energy and he had no idea how to soothe her nerves.
“I’m sure it will go well.” He glanced at her lush mouth and searched his mind for any way he mightease her nervous trembling. Her hazel eyes, lightened to the color of whiskey in the sun, were focused forward as if she could see her goal ahead and refused to shift her attention to anything else.
Bella had always been lovely, but lately he couldn’t help noticing all the things that made her beautiful. It wasn’t just that Bella was pretty, she exuded a determined energy that made her breathtaking.
“He’ll like your book. Your ideas.”
She eased her intense focus long enough to glance at him. “You cannot know that at all.”
“I have a good feeling.”
“This has nothing to do with emotion.” She still wouldn’t look at him but she was doing nothing to hide her irritation. “If he likes my book, it will be because he thinks he can sell it. It’s business. Nothing more.”
“I do know a bit about business.” He still wanted to show her the club. It was the only place he’d ever truly made a success of himself. A place where he’d made choices that made him proud rather than regretful.
“You’ve never even seen my book,” she said quietly. “This could be an endeavor in futility.”
